How to sleep properly?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On February 13, 1972, Michelle Siffre climbed into a cave in southwestern Texas. He spent the next six months in it, never having seen daylight in those days. Siffre was not a madman, but a French scientist and pioneer in the field of chronobiology, the science that studies the work of biological rhythms.

The most famous rhythm is the circadian rhythm, which regulates the cycles of sleep and wakefulness. Siffre climbed into a cave to figure out how this mechanism works. Siffre lived in a tent. A wooden pallet served as a bed for him. He also had a table, a chair and a telephone to communicate with the research group, which was left outside.

In his underground there was one light bulb that always shone with the same soft light, a large supply of frozen food and a couple of tons of water. And most importantly: there were no clocks or calendars on or with him.

His task was to monitor the body, which does not know whether it is day or night, which means whether it is sleeping or not. So Siffre lived alone in this cave for six months. All this time he was trying to figure out how his biological clock works.

Here is what he wrote in his diary: “I finally have a perfect dream! My body now chooses when to sleep and when to eat. It is very important. We are used to the fact that there are 24 hours in a day. But the internal clock of our body gives a day a little more - 24 hours and 30 minutes.”Every now and then Siffre put on new experiments on himself. And he found the perfect formula in a 48-hour cycle: 36 hours of continuous wakefulness, followed by 12 hours of sleep.

The work of Siffre and his followers made scientists from major universities, Harvard and Pennsylvania, interested in the nature of sleep.

Given the fact that a third of our lives we sleep, it is hard to believe that this topic has become of serious interest to scientists only in recent decades.

Let's start.

How much sleep do you need?

To answer this question, let's look at an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and researchers at the University of Washington.

They collected 48 healthy men and a woman who slept an average of 7-8 hours a night. They then divided them into four groups, the first group being volunteers who were deprived of sleep for three days in a row. The second group consists of those who slept only four hours a day. The third group - people who slept 6 hours a night. Finally, the participants in the fourth group had to sleep for 8 hours - no more, no less.

The experiment lasted two weeks. And then all the respondents were tested for mental and physical performance.

Here's what happened.

Those who slept 8 hours a day remained "cucumbers" and performed just as well as before the experiment. Those who slept 4-6 hours a day showed a steady decline in cognitive ability, with problems growing with every day. Even more interesting, there was no discernible difference between the members of groups "4" and "6".

Scientists have also found that the need for sleep can be cumulative

After a week, one in four of those groups that did not sleep enough began to involuntarily "cut out" in random places. After two weeks of the experiment, members of the group that slept for only 6 hours showed the same productivity deficit as those who did not sleep at all for two days contract.

Let me reiterate: if you sleep only six hours a night for two weeks in a row, your mental and physical abilities are reduced to the level that you would if you were awake for 48 hours in a row.

The second important note: the participants in the experiment themselves did not notice that they had a decrease in performance

When the participants were given the opportunity to independently assess their own performance, all of them, it turned out, overestimated themselves; in other words, we are not able to adequately assess ourselves and our productivity. This means that we may feel that chronic lack of sleep is normal. Or even that we don't need all 8 hours. But this is not the case.

We live our lives in bright offices, have social conversations, and consume massive amounts of caffeine. Those. we have a lot of tools that make us feel awake, although in reality everything is more serious.

The cost of sleep deprivation

The irony of the situation is that many of us deliberately deprive ourselves of normal sleep in order to increase our productivity, in order to do more. But in reality, we only harm our plans.

In the United States alone, research shows that chronic sleep deprivation causes employers to lose a combined $ 100 billion a year from regular sleep deprivation.

Grigory Belenky, director of the Productivity Research Center at the University of Washington, explains: "Unless you're doing work that doesn't require any mental skill at all, by depriving yourself of sleep, you are trading wake time at the expense of productivity." …

This brings us to an important question: how do you know if you have enough sleep or not?

A wide range of studies have shown that it usually takes 99% of the people on the planet seven and a half or eight hours. This is if we are talking about optimal values.

Experts agree that 95% of adults need to sleep between 7 and 9 hours every night to live a normal life. If they sleep less, they will begin to lose their mental and physical performance. Children and the elderly generally need even more sleep. Meanwhile, people sleep less and less.

Harvard Medical School says the average sleep time of Americans has decreased from 9 hours in 1910 to 7 hours today. Dr. Lawrence Epstein of this institute claims that 20% of Americans sleep less than six hours a night.

How to sleep properly

A process called the sleep-wake cycle determines the quality of your sleep.

It has two stages:

1. Phase of slow sleep (deep sleep)

2. Phase of REM sleep (this is when we dream, and when we are easy to wake up).

During slow wave sleep, the body relaxes, breathing becomes slow and deep, blood pressure drops, and the body becomes less sensitive to external stimuli. It's hard to wake up.

This stage is critical for the restoration and "repair" of the body. During slow wave sleep, the pituitary gland actively secretes growth hormones. They stimulate tissue growth and muscle repair.

Researchers also believe that the body's immune systems also get a chance to rest during this stage. This dream is especially important if you are an athlete.

It is known that LeBron James and Roger Federer sleep 11-12 hours a day before important competitions, and this is no accident. Researchers at Stanford University have shown that basketball players who sleep more than 10 hours a day perform better in shooting accuracy and responsiveness to unexpected situations.

Basketball players usually sleep 8 hours a day. But if you let them sleep for ten hours, then the accuracy of three-point shots increases by 9%, and in the 80 meter sprint they turn out to be 0.6 seconds faster than usual. It's a lot. And all because it is the phase of slow sleep that helps us to recover our muscles faster.

Now let's talk about the slow-wave sleep phase.

At this time, your brain creates dreams and reorganizes information, organizes it. During this time, neurons also grow rapidly. Therefore, in the morning your memory works better, and in the morning it is easier for you to study.

On the other hand, during REM sleep, heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature increase. You should have from three to five such faces a day. If you deprive yourself of any of these two phases of sleep, your body literally begins to die.

If you are sleep deprived, you cannot physically rebuild yourself. Your immune system is weakened and your consciousness becomes hazy. You have an increased risk of contracting a viral infection. You gain weight, you develop diabetes, problems with blood pressure.

A little more - and you will find out what heart disease, mental illness and premature mortality are.

Brief conclusion: you need slow sleep for physical recovery, fast sleep for mental. As the quality of your sleep deteriorates over the years, you need even more sleep to stay young longer

Age-related changes

Harvard Medical School states that the older you are, the more difficult it is for you to fall asleep. And the worse your sleep copes with its functions.

Based on the data above, the average 80-year-old man gets a whopping 62% less NREM sleep than the average 20-year-old man. And this is one of the reasons why cell tissues age so quickly in adults.

If old people are having trouble sleeping, you can be sure that their aging process is now rapidly accelerating. And you need to seek help from a somnologist.

There is no doubt that good and healthy sleep is the key to protecting against premature aging.

How to recover if you do not get enough sleep

Experts from Harvard Medical School give only one recommendation: you need to sleep during the day. Just a little: 20-30 minutes. This will be enough to help your brain "get together".

When to go to bed and when to wake up

As you already know, the cycles of sleep and wakefulness are called circadian rhythm. He determines when you need to sleep.

But here are a few things that are common to everyone:

At 6 am - Cortisol levels increase, which helps to wake up your brain and body.

At 7 o'clock in the morning - the body stops producing the sleep hormone melatonin.

At 9 am - Your sex hormones are at their peak.

10 a.m - the peak of your mental activity.

2.30 days - the peak for your motor and coordination systems.

3.30 days - the time when you have the best reaction time.

5.00 pm - the time when your cardiovascular and muscular systems work best.

7 pm - time of high blood pressure and elevated body temperature.

9 pm - the time of the beginning of the production of melatonin. The body prepares the body for sleep.

10 pm … - You often want to use the toilet. The body continues to prepare for sleep.

2 am … - Time of deepest sleep.

4 a.m … - The time when you have the lowest body temperature. Being awake at this time is especially harmful.

Obviously, all these periods can be slightly different for different people. But they show the big picture.

How to reset to zero?

Circadian rhythms change depending on how you behave and what you are doing during the day.

How can I reset this "clock" and start it over again?

The easiest and most proven way: gaze into bright light for 30 minutes. Those. you can spend half an hour outside on a sunny day without sunglasses. Better yet, wake up at dawn and spend the morning on your balcony.

How to sleep properly. Several recommendations

Avoid caffeine

If you are having trouble falling asleep, eliminate caffeine from your diet. If you cannot deny yourself a cup of coffee in the morning, then do not drink it at least in the afternoon.

Stop smoking or chewing tobacco

Tobacco use causes sleep problems. How to quit? Allen Carr is said to have written the best book on the subject. It's called The Easy Way to Quit Smoking.

The bedroom is a room for sleeping and sex only

Do you spend a lot of time in your bedroom? Watch TV in it? This is your main mistake. Remove everything that distracts you from the bedroom: TV, laptop, tablet, smartphone. And one more thing: the curtains should be dense. So dense that at night this room was completely dark.

Exercises

If you can't get enough sleep, try doing light exercises after you get home from work. This will help your body and brain shut down faster.

Exercise should be done at least two to three hours before bedtime. Otherwise, you will only harm yourself.

Temperature

Most people get their best sleep in a cool room. The ideal range is 18-21 degrees Celsius.

Sounds

Perfect silence is best. But if you can't drown out the sounds of the street in any way, use white noise. You can turn on a regular fan or install a special application on your smartphone. Another good option is earplugs.

Alcohol

This is a slippery slope. Yes, for many people, drinking before bed can help them to pass out faster. However, alcohol reduces the quality of sleep and delays REM sleep. As a result, your brain rests, but your body does not. This is why you often wake up completely overwhelmed in the morning.

Stick to regular sleep

The body loves rituals. The circadian rhythm is the foundation of our daily life. Go to bed and wake up at the same time on weekdays and on weekends.

Develop a bedtime ritual

Avoid light from computer screens, TVs, and mobile gadgets before bed. The blue light they emit inhibits the body's production of melatonin. As a result, you cannot sleep, and your brain drives unpleasant thoughts every time you are in bed.

Along the way, instead of melatonin, the body produces the stress hormone cortisol - and it is the main enemy of your sleep. So before bed, start, for example, just reading a book. This is the perfect way to prepare yourself for a night out.

Another option is to download the F.lux app, which dims the monitor in the evenings and removes the blue color from its spectrum as much as possible.

You must have a relaxation technique

Researchers believe that at least 50% of insomnia cases are caused by stress. Find a way to deal with it every day.

Methods such as reading magazines, deep breathing exercises, meditation, exercise, and journaling have been proven to work (you should also write about what you are grateful for every day).

How to get more energy in the morning

Drink a large glass of water early in the morning. Your body has been without water for six to eight hours. This is why you feel so sluggish in the morning. It's almost always a matter of dehydration. The first thing I do when I wake up is drink a large glass of water.

Start your day with sunshine

Sunlight is the new coffee. If you stand on the balcony or at the window (on the side where the sun rises) early in the morning and spend a few minutes there, it will instantly wake you up. And it will set the brain in the right mood for the whole day.

Coffee is a way to wake up on cloudy days and in winter, when you have to get up before the sun rises. The rest of the time it is better not to drink it.

In general, what are we all about?

Sleep deprivation, and even more so if it is chronic, is the very robber who takes away your ability to work, intelligence, physical health and good mood.

Our culture underestimates the importance of good sleep. So try to sleep more. Sounds simple, right? How about giving it a try?